[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11159]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             RECOGNIZING THE CREW OF THE AMTRAK DOWNEASTER

  (Ms. PINGREE of Maine asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, I want to take a moment to 
recognize the crew of the Amtrak Downeaster who quickly guided 112 
passengers to safety after the train was involved in an accident this 
week in Maine. With the engine engulfed in flames, two conductors and 
one engineer reacted calmly and professionally to evacuate the train. 
Although the tragedy sadly took the life of a truck driver whose 
vehicle was on the tracks, no one in the train was seriously injured.
  This accident could have been much, much worse, and in part we have 
the crew of the Downeaster to thank that all of these passengers 
escaped without a serious injury.
  Over the last 10 years, the Downeaster has made 30,000 trips between 
Portland and Boston and transported 3\1/2\ million passengers without a 
serious incident. And the next morning, the train left Portland on 
schedule and arrived in Boston 3 minutes early.
  We should all take a minute today to think about the men and women 
who work in our transportation system, who day in and day out make sure 
we are safe, whether we are driving in our own cars or riding on a bus, 
plane, train, or, like my hometown, a ferry.

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